Thursday – April 15, 2021
9:30 am - 10:00 am EST
Welcome to the STEAM Leadership Conference 2021 at Georgia Tech! It's time to log into our virtual event.
10:00 am - 11:00 am EST
Keynote
Dr. ReAnna Roby
11:10 am - 12:10 pm EST
The Power of Maker Stations: STEM learning through hands-on experiences
Hannah Oldham and Sean Mills
As education and learning changed abruptly in 2020, STEM educators have struggled to create authentic hands-on STEM experiences. While there are many creative ways to experience STEM learning in a virtual setting, some experiences cannot be recreated over a computer screen. In this presentation, we will discuss how a local community partnership between The Maker Station, Georgia Makes PPE, and the Sprayberry STEM academy has safely created an engaging hands-on learning experience by designing, making, and delivering PPE across the state. We will discuss how to find and create local partnerships, the benefits of Maker Stations to STEM education, and how you can use the pandemic as a way to foster authentic STEM learning to solve real-world problems.
The Unbearable Relevance of STEAM
Michael Kuenlen and Tracey Wiley
The resources available through PBS LearningMedia address so e of the most pertinent issues in society today through the lens of STEAM learning, from misinformation in science reporting to the biases found in algorithms. Their collections offer a dynamic new approach to teaching STEAM in a brave new digital world where content is king and students expect instruction to be relevant and personal. PBS meets and exceeds all of these needs.
The I'm W.O.K.E. Project - Widening Option through Knowledge and Empowerment
Tonya Clarke, Charlene Matthew, Tiffanie Nealy, and Alana Pittman
The “I'm W.O.K.E. Project” improves mathematical disposition and opens access for all students by creating positive and supportive relationships, including a variety of lesson entry points, building and embedding vocabulary, reinforcing and enabling reflection, providing multiple opportunities for mastery, incorporating relatable experiences, and embedding content in context. With each project, students are guided through the critical thinking process necessary to investigate, analyze, strategize, and intervene in social systems. The highlights of the project are the teacher and leader training and the student community action project. Through the project, teachers are provided practical methods for engaging all students in the learning. Equitable instructional practices are modeled and intentionally shared to help teachers appreciate and learn how to ensure equal access for all students. Students are required to use the mathematics embedded in the context to effect community change.
Fly Girls RPV
Dr. Sally Creel, Alana Davis, Alexa Dean, and Tamieka Grizzle
The sky's the limit for young women participating in our Fly Girls RPV program. Fly Girls was developed to introduce young women in grades four through eight to aerospace using drones. We are using this year as an opportunity to re-imagine this program for a remote learning environment. That is how Fly Girls RPV (Remote Person View) was launched. We partnered with CEFGA, Construction Education Foundation of Georgia, and Kennesaw State University, to locate female drone pilots to speak to students. Women are an underrepresented population in STEM. We wanted our Fly Girls to learn about careers where drones are used and highlight women who do these jobs. Our Fly Girls complete missions that integrate STEAM practices. In this session we'll share what we did, how we did it and how you can too!
Service Learning, Access to Education, and the AP Classroom
Timothy Hipp
Integrating a service learning curriculum into AP Computer Science classrooms provides project-based opportunities for my students to apply their STEAM skills to real-world problems. Learn how adopting the AP with WE Service curriculum changed AP Computer Science A and AP Computer Science Principles courses from coding factories to technology for good incubators. A deep dive into service learning pedagogy, along with an emphasis on the topic Access to Education, provides students not only an authentic service learning experience, but also opportunities to explore and expand their application of computer science. Attendees will gain an understanding of the AP with WE Service curriculum, exposure to 20+ student-generated service learning action plans, and learn how to apply this framework to other STEAM courses in and outside the AP curriculum.
Use it, Don’t Lose it: Conserving the 1%
Saundra Echols, Mallory Ross, and Ed Gnatiuk
Created and implemented as part of a school-wide STEAM initiative, this semester-long water conservation PBL combines science, music composition, computer programming, and entrepreneurship skills as students create and market musical playlists to be used while showering. In science, students develop models to illustrate the proportion of water available for drinking and discuss ways that these resources are over-utilized. Using EarSketch, a free platform that teaches computer coding through music remixing, students compose 2-minute musical pieces with lyrics that create awareness of the need to conserve water. The compositions are designed to be played during showering to limit the time of water use. To market their music, students create a music application and promote it and their playlist to the rest of the student body, in the process learning basic business principles such as copyright, collaboration, and Master Ownership. This innovative and collaborative STEAM PBL is great fun.
The Plot Thickens: Urban Agriculture & Partnerships at Marbut Theme School
Andre Mountain, Marcus Knight, Jeff Mather, and Camille Blakely
The session explores the school-wide focus on urban agriculture at Marbut Traditional Theme School in the DeKalb County School District. Marbut has developed plots of land around the campus to cultivate both vegetables and a deep, rich love for agriculture. Leveraging a STEAM class, and community partnerships with artists and entrepreneurs, Marbut is helping its students understand how to develop a sustainable food source in urban spaces. As we have transitioned to a virtual learning platform, students have embraced additional software tools to design structures for the campus, furthering the work of growing crops that will be donated to families in need. As the plot thickens, students become aware of their own power to contribute to the campus in meaningful ways, apply their learning from a broad range of content areas, and effect positive change in metro-Atlanta through their generosity.
Virtual Breakout - Purposeful Planning and Integration in Grades K-5
Danielle Armstrong, Kassidy Moore, Monica Vestal- Mashburn, and Andrea Wright
Join the STEAM department from the DeKalb County School District as they delve into creating virtual problem-based integrated STEAM lessons. In this session participants will work together to solve the mystery of the outbreak at Park Hill Elementary School’s camping trip, a virtual “breakout” Problem-based Learning Case designed for a 5th grade STEAM program. A practical approach to mapping out integrated lessons using exciting and relevant phenomena, that are aligned to the Georgia Standards of Excellence will be presented. Participants will leave this session with a toolbox of collaborative planning tool that serves as an efficient model for integration and producing a “good” STEM/STEAM PBL or lesson in a virtual setting.
12:30 pm - 1:15 pm EST
Lunch and Learn with the GA Department of Education
Join this Lunch & Learn session to hear from a panel of Georgia Department of Education representatives from the Computer Science, Mathematics, and STEM/ STEAM departments. This panel will share upcoming training opportunities, resources, and updates to support implementation of STEAM teaching and learning. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about the STEAM certification process and GaDOE resources.
This Lunch & Learn is for K-5 educators and leaders.
1:25 pm - 2:55 pm EST
Full STEAM Ahead - Roomies and Zoomies included!
J.W. Mozley, Jessica Arnold, Chandra Brandel, Kelli Sinclair, and Jimmy Nguyen
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed many sectors of society including education. Coleman Middle School administration and teachers will share strategies on how our STEAM mission and vision was taken to the next level. The pandemic required us to innovate and transform our "how" although our "why" remained strong! Quick tips will be given on effective ways to engage in-person and digital learners.
The development of free, online educational modules about COVID-19
Matthew Johnson, Tiffany Lewis, and Amber Cesare
This session will describe the co-development of a freely available online course called The Science of COVID-19 for secondary teachers to use with their students. It provides the perspectives of three interconnected fields of study (virology, epidemiology, and public health preparedness) and guides students through a series of activities similar to the ways scientists have been learning about both the virus and the disease over the past several months. Most school science courses teach content that has been well-understood for years. Participants will get the opportunity to conduct three of the activities within the course and will participate in small group discussions about several of the relevant topics related to teaching science that is not yet in textbooks. The course is well-aligned with Next Generation Science Standards because it engages the user in science practices as it teaches disciplinary content.
Get Your Heart Beating with Eduscize and IHT
Sean Splawski, Dr. Sally Creel, Pam Cain, and Jen Ohlson
Find out how Cobb County School District got students heart's racing for STEAM with a innovative math curriculum called Eduscize. Eduscize is a research-based curriculum that turns an ordinary classroom into a fun, engaging, learning environment that promotes the health and well-being of every child through standards based kinesthetic learning. Cobb County implemented a Proof of Concept along with Interactive Health Technologies (IHT) and Eduscize curriculum to create a truly one of a kind STEAM program. IHT provides science-backed wearable technology that delivers heart rate data and performance metrics in real-time. This innovative program allows students to meet their rigorous math standards while learning about their personal fitness as well as how to monitor their social-emotional learning. Not only does it get students moving, it provides teachers with an innovative way to engage students with a unique hybrid learning experience.
STEAM to the Nth Power: Virtual STEAM Explorations With NASA, NOVA, Nature
Tracey Wiley and Michael Kuenlen
The trusted PBS brands of NOVA and Nature, combined with NASA's content on the PBS LearningMedia platform, constitute some of the most relevant educational resources available for STEAM education. These vast collections address current issues across the spectrum from addiction to the wonders of the universe, and all through dynamic videos, interactive tools, and lesson planning resources.
It's all Fun and Games: Constructing Knowledge with Video Games and Toys
Tyler Kinner, Laura Levy, Jack Wood, and Therese Boston
When you think of learning through play, you probably think of early-age children learning the basics of the world with colored blocks and toy cars. But what if teachers harnessed the intrinsic interest students have in toys and video games to propel teaching and learning? From exploring the physics of a fidget spinner to evaluating the story-telling in Fortnite, toys and video games have valuable potential to do more than distract from the learning process. This workshop will engage teachers in learning through play in GSE-aligned experiences that leverage toys and video games across STEAM!
More Than Likes + Shares: Leveraging Social Media for STEAM Partnerships
Shaunice Sasser, Ashleigh Distin, and Caryn Turner
Contrary to popular belief, social media is more than likes + shares. Facebook is more than sharing stories or your favorite recipes; Instagram is more than video reels; TikTok is more than hitting the ""woah"" to a dance challenge; and Clubhouse is more than just a conversation. Each of these tools can be used to strategically build partnerships that will highlight new and innovative STEAM careers, expand networking opportunities for teachers and students as well as provide additional opportunities for mentorship. This session will discuss the exact steps we have used to gain the attention of a middle school millionaire, MC Hammer and a Nano Physicist. Our goal as educators is to always prepare our students for careers that do not exist yet. We want to propel them into the future ready and prepared to be more than consumers, but to be innovators and inventors.
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm* EST
*Some sessions are 30 minutes, while others are 60 minutes. Make sure to double check the time of a session you are interested in. *
3D Printed Prosthetics: A Bridge to SEL and Community Connectedness
Brent Hollers
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
How can we create true community engagement with a program that applies STEAM concepts and Social Emotional Learning? In this workshop you will learn how a program designed to 3D print prosthetics for people who cannot afford them has allowed students to connect with local and international clients and groups to deliver a custom-designed product that has an amazing impact on people's lives. We will unpack how to start this program in your environment, how to reach community partners such as your local rotary, and the amazing impact this program has on students ability to design, create, and empathize all while reinforcing STEAM concepts they have learned in school!
Code, Craft, & StoryTelling - an Adventure in STEAM
Gail Tate
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
What has been the biggest challenge for students during this unprecedented time in education? How do we keep our students engaged, excited, and creative even when using a virtual platform to teach technology? Can learning how to code help our students build community and connectedness even during a pandemic? These are the kinds of questions we hope to answer when sharing some techniques we used in our recent program ""Code, Craft, and Storytelling"". Our integration of computer science, design, art, and writing can be used in a virtual or in a person-to-person education platform. We will illustrate and have you experience firsthand a sample of projects that expand Design Thinking, Imagination, and Invention....while you learn the basics of block programming. Our workshop will use the open-source block programming language from Microsoft called MakeCode. Come prepared to have an interactive experience*!
(*PC or Mac required)
(*PC or Mac required)
Innovation, Wellness & Leadership: Intersections with STEAM
Mark Labouchere, Stephen Addcox, and Mitchell Griest
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Learn how our school leveraged its burgeoning STEAM program to support our Wellness and Leadership programs for our high school students in the time of COVID. When asked by our school leadership to use our brand new Innovation Lab to support our Wellness and Leadership program we were not sure where to begin. Over the course of one semester our approach incorporating virtual reality, laser cutting, 3D printing and digital storytelling quickly became the most popular session in the program. Come to our session to learn the techniques of developing your own program, the teamwork involved and the lesson we learned along the way.
Equitable and Sustainable Food Access
D'Anna Muhammad, Rhonda Love, Charlene Matthew
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
This session encourages student civic engagement and responsibility by presenting a STEAM unit that explores food deserts and the challenges communities face in having access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Students are challenged to use square foot gardening to design a system that maximizes space for growing vegetables in container gardens. They will also use coding to design a system for monitoring water, nutrients, or sunlight levels for community members who want to grow their own vegetables but have limited space or resources. Curriculum standards are integrated across Science, Math, Social Studies, and Art through creating equitable solutions and incorporating various artforms that enhance the solution. The session will explore ideas for student innovation, and the sharing of those ideas with the larger community. Scaling will occur from the starting classroom to other buildings within the county and into the local community.
The Hines Family Foundation STEM4.0 Education and Training Alliance
John Hines, Justin Ballenger, Lori Skillings, and Marsha Maxwell
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
The Hines Family Foundation Mission is to enable underserved and under-resourced students and communities to become viable contributors to and beneficiaries of the 21st century global workforce through STEM4.0 based learning and innovation. HFF orients its learning strategies around a series of discipline-based Learning Initiatives, integrating STEM studies with Hands-on-Learning Experiences, providing technologies, tools and products, and interfacing with front-end education and outreach organizations. Recently, HFF has initiated the STEM4.0 Education and Training Alliance (H-SETA), a public-private-academic campaign to facilitate collaboration on creating and deploying mission-aligned STEM4.0/STEAM Education and Outreach and related technology, product, and service initiatives in support of underserved and under-represented students and population groups. This panel will introduce H-SETA core partners and describe some of our approaches and strategies to positively impact students.
STEAM Strategies for Reaching “Virtual”ly Anyone in a COVID World
Melissa Hammonds and Heather McKeen
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
With the fusion of technology and virtual learning exploding in the education world, educators are reimagining their classrooms. What elements of our new reality will remain and evolve to change the landscape of education? What enhancements can be made as we move forward to increase access for students, expand our ability to provide an equitable education, and promote inclusion? We will explore the virtual landscape and share the “what ifs” of future classrooms and STEAM programs. Let’s dive into strategies that can be adapted to support STEAM learning going forward. This session will share ideas and resources for building your PLC STEAM network, utilizing virtual artists in residence, weekly take-home STEAM projects, virtual STEAM career day, and reimagining STEAM to extend beyond the school building.
STEAM & Social Justice: Creating Spaces for Equity
Sterling Slaughter, Jeff Mather, and Courtney Bryant
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
After 10 years in the classroom at Drew Charter School and 15 years working in the East Lake community, I was asked to head a pilot class that incorporated the tenants of S.T.E.A.M. & Social Justice. It was to be a class open to both middle and high school students that linked advocacy and innovation. Since it was to be an enrichment offering, and for an added level of difficulty, cycling was to be integrated as well. I was tasked with making connections between these three separate entities, each that could warrant its own curriculum. In this presentation I will be sharing the story of how this class was designed to address equity in S.T.E.A.M. education and also engage students in an exploration of social justice issues that are of immediate concern in their community, such as gentrification, food deserts, lack of representation of artists of color, even design issues that uniquely impact African-Americans, like creating bicycle helmets that accommodate their hair styles.
Student-led STEM Classes: An Initiative For STEM Instruction
Daksha Jadhav
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
The world is truly evolving, and many exciting developments are happening in the STEM field. Experts estimate that many existing jobs in the job market will no longer exist in 5-10 years, and there will be new job requirements that do not exist today. STEM education for students of today is vital to prepare and expose them to the future job market. Learn about Teach-Technology Organization Inc.’s, a 501(c)(3) technology education nonprofit organization, student-led STEM classes. High school and undergraduate students serve as instructors for our STEM classes on Machine Learning, Python Programming, Java Programming, and even teaching seniors technology. The programming instructors are responsible for teaching middle school and high school students these different programming languages and concepts through our free, virtual classes. We will share our story and our initiative for STEM instruction. Also, the processes and tools used in the implementation of these classes will be shared.
Georgia Tech LEAP: Supply Chain−The STEAM Engine for Economic Mobility
Chuck Easley
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
MISSION (Amplifying Impact): Georgia Tech's motto, ""Progress and Service,"" is a cornerstone of all we do! Georgia Tech is committed to empowering people of all backgrounds and to integrating our resources across disciplines to create a better future for our community — locally, nationally, and globally.
PROGRAM: Georgia Tech Logistics Education And Pathways (GT LEAP) program. GT LEAP has trained and developed more than 800 professional education students across Georgia since 2016. GT LEAP serves opportunity youth, veterans, underrepresented/underserved minorities, people with disabilities, job seekers and people in career transition.
PARTNERSHIPS: [e.g., Metro-Atlanta High Schools, Other GA High Schools, College Career Academies, GT EXCEL, Municipal and County Governments, Department of Juvenile Justice, Latin American Association, Atlanta CareerRise-United Way, other Non-profits and NGO’s focused on serving the same constituencies]
Connect and Learn: Virtual Field Trips in Piedmont Park
Kaycee Walker
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
In 2020 we all had challenges to overcome. At Piedmont Park Conservancy, our challenge was providing environmental education opportunities in a world where we were to stay at home. Connecting to nature is difficult enough living in a city. Not every person can live close enough to public green space to use it regularly. Enter COVID: unless you are walking/biking distance from nature, you probably wouldn't be experiencing it. The goal of our online presence is that a connection to nature is accessible to everyone. We crafted online resources coupled with an educational Instagram platform that provides learners with a hands-on connection to nature, and specifically Piedmont Park. These free, quick, fun educational opportunities provided a way for young learners to stay connected to nature during a disconnected time.
Out of this World: Teaching STEAM through Music
Laurie Orth
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Start the STEAM pipeline with engaging musical activities so the Arts and Sciences can coexist to develop creative people. Learn from education pioneer, Laurie Orth, from Augusta, Georgia, this innovative way to teach all elementary students, regardless of their zip code, about space exploration and rockets through songs, picture images, poetry and NASA STEM. Sample the song Moon Hang Time Vacation, about the launch sequence for SpaceX’s STARSHIP rocket on an expedition to the Moon. Learn ways to collaborate within your organization to present this out-of-this-world music in community concerts, to solidify learning and build emotional intelligence through musical performance. Change the trajectory for young people by using STEAM in the music classroom.
Friday – April 16, 2021
9:30 am - 10:00 am EST
Welcome to the STEAM Leadership Conference 2021 at Georgia Tech! It's time to log into our virtual event.
10:00 am - 10:45 am EST
Keynote
Provost Steven W. McLaughlin
11:10 am - 12:10 pm EST
Hyperdocs in the PBL Classroom
Abby Roberts
In a world where students are tasked with taking charge of their own learning, a lot of times teachers don't know how to turn over the control and students don't know how to take control. By utilizing hyperdocs, students can be in the driver's seat during their Project Based Learning (PBL) unit. Students demonstrate critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication within given constructs to formulate their own understanding of academic content while creating a solution to a real world problem. Join me to dive deeper into the world of hyperdocs and how they can be most effectively used to help your students problem solve and take ownership of their learning in the 21st century.
Making STEM Partnerships Work
Eric Knapp, Jason Raines, Paula Garcia Todd, and Brien Faucett
Science ATL’s STEM Professional School Partnership (SPSP) program works with metro Atlanta teachers to cultivate partnerships between schools and local STEM businesses. The program matches 32 STEM professionals with 32 K-12 schools for a year of monthly interactions, reaching 4500 students. Partners set goals to achieve together based on school needs assessments and asset mapping.
During this moderated panel discussion, attendees will hear from program sponsors and participants while learning how to leverage STEM partnerships in an evolving world. While COVID certainly impacted the process, it did not stop STEM professionals from engaging with students in meaningful ways. We will share additional resources for creating and maintaining STEM partnerships. With success stories, lessons learned, and actionable tools, attendees will be empowered to make initial connections with STEM professionals and establish sustainable school STEM partnerships.
Our Voice Matters Ivy Preparatory Academy S.T.R.E.A.M. Showcase
Crystal Perry, Vanesha Herbert, Tiffany Jones, Kimberly Hardy, Brianna Smith, and Tonya Barr
Ivy Preparatory Academy cultivates leaders who manifest change in the world. Ivy Preparatory Academy fosters a culture of collaboration, passion for learning, integrity, and servant leadership. While engaged in virtual learning, staff and scholars leveraged STEAM Education to meaningfully engaged girls K-8 in a unit entitled: Our Voice Matters. In partnership with Melanated PEARL Corporation, Ivy Preparatory Academy transformed its instructional approach by placing scholars in career roles and then, encouraging scholars to develop solutions to address current issues; including but not limited to racial injustice, COVID19, PPE, and redesigned classrooms, police departments, and mock bills. Teachers focused on standard alignment, critical thinking, problem-solving, knowledge application, and creativity; communication and collaboration, leadership, and global and cross-cultural awareness; and self-directions, and motivation, while learning how to learn in a virtual learning environment.
Strategic Planning for STEAM Education
Dr. Brene Bradley and Dr. Linda Howard
This session will present a process for school administrators to "strategically" plan for the launch and implementation of STEM education. The focus will include ways to build buy-in and engage teachers, along with stakeholders. The presentation will address how schools can plan and prepare for STEAM certification.
Navigating Nanotechnology in a Virtual World
Quinn Spadola and Leslie O'Neill
Navigating nanotechnology in a virtual world. Can it be done? How do we do it? These were some of the challenges SENIC (The Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor) faced with the Spring of 2020. One of our education department’s goals is to educate school grades K-12 on the science of nanotechnology, relying heavily on hands-on activities and face-to-face interactions. When we had to pivot to virtual learning, we were faced with the challenge of teaching the same material but how? How were we going to get our audience? How were we going to engage our audience? Would we be successful in our endeavors? How do we demonstrate our hands-on activities? How do we teach nanotechnology virtually? Our presentation will demonstrate how we adjusted to our new “normal” by offering multiple activities for different ages and interests. The activities included camps and scavenger hunts for the summer and virtual field trips for the school year. We reached over 800 students.
Your Voice is Power: Make Beats. Learn Code. Promote Equity.
Sabrina Grossman, Roxanne Moore, Chalece DeLaCoudray, and Danyelle Larkin
In light of recent events around racial injustice, Amazon Future Engineer and Georgia Tech have partnered with Pharrell and his philanthropic organization, YELLOW, to create an innovative learning experience and coding competition for students across the country. Using Pharrell and JayZ’s new song “Entrepreneur”, students will explore how entrepreneurship, music, and computer science are transformational pathways toward equity. Students will analyze how musical artists design songs to build awareness of racial injustice, and inspire listeners to take action towards creating a more just nation. Using Georgia Tech’s EarSketch platform, students will learn how to code in python to create a musical remix using sounds from Entrepreneur. Students will have the opportunity to submit their remixes to the competition and will be judged based on music, code, and messaging. This session will outline the learning experience, provide a tutorial on EarSketch, and share competition details.
Using the arts to communicate math
Evans Harrell and Jamey Smith
Mathematics in Motion, Inc., is a registered Georgia nonprofit that has partnered with local artists to innovate in ways to communicate math to a wider audience. We create events using circus arts, music, dance, theater, and magic to convey the essence of mathematics and its importance in the world. Shows and presentations have ranged from the rather large Mathapalooza! at the Atlanta Science Festival, to performances at schools and campuses, to pop-up events at community festivals. In the past year we succeeded in attracting audiences online. We will show performance videos, describe the experiments we have done, lessons learned, ways to create and fund STEAM partnerships, and explore future directions.
Engaging Students in Smart Sea Level Sensor Design and Assembly
Timothy Cone, Russ Clark, and Thomas Maty
To help our youth better understand climate change and its impacts on our daily lives both now and in the future, it is important that we seek to engage them in every aspect of the research process. We believe that youth should be involved not merely as observers, but as producers as well. Specifically, in this project, we sought the opportunity to work with a small group of high school students in the research and development of a hyperlocal network of sea level sensors located in Chatham County. The ongoing result has been students successfully designing and managing a manufacturing process, assembling over 50 sensors, presenting ideas for redesign and improvements, and performing a series of quality control tests. The goal of this presentation is to share our process and results so that whether you are a classroom teacher, district leader, or researcher that you will be inspired to seek out opportunities to engage our youth in real-world scientific research and discovery.
12:30 pm - 1:15 pm EST
Lunch and Learn with the GA Department of Education
Join this Lunch & Learn session to hear from a panel of Georgia Department of Education representatives from the Computer Science, Mathematics, and STEM/ STEAM departments. This panel will share upcoming training opportunities, resources, and updates to support implementation of STEAM teaching and learning. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions about the STEAM certification process and GaDOE resources.
This Lunch & Learn is for 6-12 educators and leaders.
1:25 pm - 2:55 pm* EST
*Some sessions are 30 minutes, while others are 60 minutes. Make sure to double check the time of a session you are interested in. *
The Cyber Gym: Safely and Cost-Effectively Developing Cybersecurity Skills
Sandra Leiterman and Philip Huff
1:25 pm to 2:55 pm
The cyber gym, soon to be released as open-source, provides a hands-on Google cloud learning environment flexible for both instructors and students. Instructors have access to custom-built workouts mapped to skills in the NICE Framework and Security+
Standards or instructors can create their own workouts When ready, an instructor initiates a system build for the number of students or teams in their class. From here students have access to independently control their workout both in the class and outside of the classroom.
Standards or instructors can create their own workouts When ready, an instructor initiates a system build for the number of students or teams in their class. From here students have access to independently control their workout both in the class and outside of the classroom.
Teachers can make $200 monthly through Make Music Count enrichment
Marcus Blackwell
1:25 pm to 2:55 pm
Make Music Count is a math curriculum and app for 3rd - 12th grade students taught through playing popular songs on the piano. In our lessons students solve real math equations where the answers are piano notes to immediately play their favorite songs on the piano. Education has been drastically impacted by the pandemic. In this session we will walk through how the Make Music Count curriculum can increase math retention and provide much needed student socialization through our digital platform. Lastly this pandemic has created a tremendous strain on educators. Make Music Count wants to give back as a solution. We created a platform for teachers to be trained as Make Music Count teachers, sign up students, schedule their enrichment sessions, and receive a percentage of the classes monthly revenue. We want to aid to teachers during these times by giving 30% of the monthly revenue from their specific class back to the teachers.
Gardening and STEAM/ What can we do from a distance?
Catherine Hampton
2:25 pm to 2:55 pm
How do you garden in a pandemic? Virtually of course! While my students couldn't visit our garden, I could and I made videos of what was growing and videotaped cooking lessons for my students to be shared through our virtual platform. Our school garden is integrated into our STEAM program to support all the elements of STEAM. We've planted seasonal and pollinator specific plants and created a sensory garden that was repurposed as a play area during socially distanced recess. It became an area of exploration and independent learning where students could find joy and curiosity. Community partnerships keep our garden growing and changing and we are currently planning a food forest for our students to enjoy.
Into the Storm: Exploring a Virtual Weather and Climate Summer Camp
Zachary Handlos
1:25 pm to 2:55 pm
Although the COVID-19 pandemic closed doors for K-12 students to participate in-person on campus at Georgia Tech for summer programming, the transition of camps to a virtual format opened doors for increased participation from students around the U.S. This also allowed for increased opportunities to invite experts as guest speakers at no cost. Given such advantages, the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, in partnership with CEISMC, transitioned their ""Into the Storm"" high school meteorology summer camp to a virtual format during Summer 2020.
The goal of this workshop is to allow participants the opportunity to test out the hands-on virtual activities implemented within this summer camp as well as learn how weather and climate experts played a pivotal role in interacting with student participants. Suggestions for how one can implement similar strategies within other virtual STEAM camps will be discussed, including how to engage students of all knowledge backgrounds.
Create and Code with Hummingbird - Even Remotely!
Tom Lauwers and Aparna Brown
1:25 pm to 2:55 pm
Remote Robots are real robots that can be programmed via the internet by anyone from anywhere. They offer a novel, equitable way to engage students in STEAM and physical computing, even when students are remote. Remote robots were developed at BirdBrain Technologies as a way to continue STEAM learning during the pandemic. The technology works with the Hummingbird Robotics Kit, an easy-to-use, creative robotics tool which allows students to design and program a robot made from any materials.In this playground session we invite you to program, in real-time, several remote robots built from Hummingbird Kits. We will also share tutorials on how to set up your own remote robots, as well as examples of remote classrooms using the technology. Join us in a virtual but still highly interactive robot coding workshop, while learning how you can incorporate physical computing and engineering design into any classroom!
DIY glider activity developed/implemented, collaboratively during pandemic
Kelly Griendling, Lori Skillings, Jodi Kokoszka, and Summer Blackmon
1:25 pm to 2:25 pm
This panel discussion will cover recent partnerships with 2 schools with Altana Public Schools, Tuskegee Airman Global (TAG) Academy and Centennial Academy, with Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Aerospace Engineering, and NASA partner program, Georgia Space Grant Consortium. The panel will discuss the planning, development, and implementation of a multiweek, hands-on aerospace themed project based learning (PBL) lesson piloted in Spring 2021 with their 4th grade cohorts. The collaborative process began during Fall 2020. Will discuss the benefits of this vertical collaboration, as well as any challenges and needs for improvement.
CAPACiTY: Authentic Social Justice
Douglas Edwards, Diley Hernández, Pam Whitlock, and Macoyia Bates
1:25 pm to 2:25 pm
This session will inform about middle and high school computer science curricula that uses a problem-based culturally authentic practices framework. The curricula were sponsored by the National Science Foundation and developed by Georgia Tech researchers and Georgia CS classroom teachers. Specific examples of student products will be shared by classroom teachers. The curricula includes the integration of music and gaming around critical topics that students select and advocate, and the research has shown significant improvement in student cognitive engagement and intention to persist.
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm* EST
*Some sessions are 30 minutes, while others are 60 minutes. Make sure to double check the time of a session you are interested in. *
Reimaging our STEAM Programs through DEI & Design Thinking
Dr. Mandi Sonnenberg
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
This past year has brought many challenges to our lives, but also has opened our eyes to possibilities for the future of STEAM education. Our STEAM program is evolving from project-based learning to problem-based learning. Remote sessions on how to donate food and supplies resulted in building little food pantries in our makerspace to be placed in areas of need. A hybrid service learning assignment resulted in creating kits to teach remote elementary students how to code, program and create games from a deck of cards. We experimented with new models and ways to different paths of STEAM earning through remote, blended, informal and hybrid learning. This session will share new possibilities of STEAM activities and resources to help develop those in your own community and schools.
STEAM From A to Z: Create the Culture
Bonnie Kirkley and Hayley Jarvis
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Are your ready to begin creating the culture of STEAM at your school? What is it? What should it look like? Where do you begin? We have learned so much in the past 4 years of working on STEAM certification. Let us share with you what we would have done if we knew everything from the start! It can be overwhelming to see the BIG PICTURE before starting. #1 it’s a culture that lives, breaths, and grows with students. It starts in your classroom. It’s not just a STEAM class. It’s a school-wide culture! Begin by creating the foundations and language of STEAM and find out how Project-Based Learning, collaboration with staff, building creativity and critical thinking with students through experience and real life student activities that allow for student collaboration create a culture of students exploding with communication skills!
Leveraging guest speakers to promote STEAM Learning
Barbra Rose, Kellee Robertson, Lynette Clark, and Mark Caponigro
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Inviting the community and the world into your classroom gives context to your student’s learning. Learn about the possibilities of using community partners and student world travelers to inspire a future forward mindset in your students. Outside speakers are more accessible through virtual meeting platforms and cost is minimal due to excluding travel expenses. Virtual platforms are more inclusive since one speaker can interact with entire grade levels in real time and sessions can be recorded for those who are not able to attend. This pandemic has generated a new way at experiencing virtual learning through virtual platforms and allowed us to think "outside of the box" when choosing community connections. From culture to careers to conservation, community and global partners can inform and inspire our students in a way that can be sustained. The diversity of these community connections are vital to inform our students in our evolving world.
Growing more than vegetables. Planting activists one seed a time...
Anjanette Farrar
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
This session will focus on how we overcame barriers by using non-traditional methods of teaching to empower our students to be change agents within their community by redesigning our space to be more environmentally sustainable…all from home. The session will follow how young scholars in South Atlanta, while learning virtually, identified a local problem (food desert) and discovered how to grow produce from home to start an urban garden for their school and the community. Participants will learn how to make the virtually impossible possible with a no limits approach of how to engage students with visual thinking strategies, unconventional materials, and virtual excursions. Participants will have the opportunity to view artifacts of real work done by amazing young scholars and learn how to mitigate the limitations to teaching in any environment across different grade levels.
W.I.L.D. Fire: Reinvigorating and Re-imaging STEAM Education and Leadership
Chris Conner, Andre Bodison, Ashonna Howard, and Darrell Worrell
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
There’s no secret teens are one of the most misrepresented people in society. They’re often labelled misguided, disconnected and disinterested. Now, imagine being a Black or Hispanic teen with an interest in STEAM who has now found themselves socially and physically isolated from the like-minded familiar faces who helped cultivate this passion to ultimately attain experiences which are historically less accessible. Feeling overwhelmed? Then, we truly may be here together. Nevertheless, these teens so often meet rigidity with resilience and instinctively seem to possess a perspective that encourages creativity, embraces inclusivity, and radiates optimism. This empowering presentation features 3 perspectives that share the evolution and results of an award-winning and culturally connective program that’s being used to enhance STEAM education, re-establish and promote life skills, positive identity and mental health, and advocate equity, inclusion, cultural representation and competency.
Connecting Classrooms with Your Community
Sheila Harmony and Dr. Sally Creel
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
The primary goal of the session is to demystify how to cultivate meaningful partnerships with the community. Participants will be provide with specific examples of existing partnerships at the district and school level.
Sample partnerships include:
Cobb Schools, Cobb Fire & UL - partnership to engage students in learning about fire dynamics while providing college and career readiness.
Coleman Middle School & Columbia Engineering - partnership where students spend a day with their engineers solving a local engineering problem.
Fly Girls - Virtual drone club for young women partnered with female drone pilots who use their drones in a variety of careers.
Coleman Middle School & The High Museum - teacher training for the “A” in STEAM and purposeful, targeted and specifically planned field trips.
Cobb Schools, Cobb Fire & UL - partnership to engage students in learning about fire dynamics while providing college and career readiness.
Coleman Middle School & Columbia Engineering - partnership where students spend a day with their engineers solving a local engineering problem.
Fly Girls - Virtual drone club for young women partnered with female drone pilots who use their drones in a variety of careers.
Coleman Middle School & The High Museum - teacher training for the “A” in STEAM and purposeful, targeted and specifically planned field trips.
We will discuss how our partnerships have evolved to adapt to current instructional practices, like remote teaching. We will be very transparent with the struggles and successes along the way."
Interdisciplinary Tangible Learning Media for Classrooms
HyunJoo Oh
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
Novel STEAM learning media enable an opportunity for teaching across modalities and disciplinary boundaries. In this presentation, I will discuss the role of tangible learning media (TLM) in supporting STEAM interdisciplinarity and present a case study in which the PaperMech team worked with K-12 teachers to adapt materials for use in the classroom. Based on interviews and observations with teachers involved in a weeklong professional development workshop, we learned how teachers perceive the affordance, constraints, and potential uses of PaperMech, a suite of TLM resources which blends computationally-controlled mechanisms with expressive paper objects. Two key themes emerged from the study: (1) the importance of flexibility in themes and tools and (2) TLM connecting across communities.
Designing for Beats: STEAM Professional Development in a Virtual Environment
Analia Rao, Sabrina Grossman, and Dr. Marion Usselman
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
The 2020 global pandemic presented a challenge to the implementation of teacher professional development programs: how could they be adapted to a virtual environment while maintaining desired levels of engagement and effectiveness? Inspired by the Guthman Competition and Zoom performances by the Hamilton cast, the Designing for Beats project was created. We challenged teams of teachers to collaboratively design new musical instruments, add creativity and digital technology, and deliver a 5-minute video performance. Teachers had three weeks to complete this- all online. Their work was supplemented by daily virtual sessions in STEAM content and pedagogy. For the finale, teachers created innovative instruments and sounds, and utilized engineering, video production, and storytelling to create a symphony of STEAM. We will share how we designed the experience, examples of instruments, videos of performances, and how this project can be adapted to the virtual or face to face student classroom
The Bottle Music Remix
Douglas Edwards, Brigette Warde, Lynelle Andrews, and Jed Paz
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm
This session will describe how a school and university partnership developed an online engaging integration of music and sound waves in a 7th grade science classroom. All the materials and resources used for this project were readily available in students' homes and free and online on the internet. Specific student products will be shared with the participants to show an example of the outcomes of the lesson.
Expanding the Process of Mentoring - Effective Mentoring Thru the Pipeline
Karol Stephens
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Mentoring is most successful when it captures and plans for all the concerns across the preparation period. Those concerns and needs are different at varied points throughout the educational and development cycle and may require different but also comprehensive approaches. Development of talent that is handled through a fragmented approach leaves too many students short at the critical moments and threatens or torpedoes their success.
Mentoring begins as they enter school and continues even as they begin their careers. It should involve their teachers and other educational professionals as well so that they are prepared to serve these students. The lack of a comprehensive approach threatens not only the futures of these students but also the pipeline needed for innovation and development in STEM fields throughout the United States.
Mentoring begins as they enter school and continues even as they begin their careers. It should involve their teachers and other educational professionals as well so that they are prepared to serve these students. The lack of a comprehensive approach threatens not only the futures of these students but also the pipeline needed for innovation and development in STEM fields throughout the United States.
Students take ownership of their own learning in an evolving world.
Chris Young, Carson Martin, Andrea Mewborne, and Lucy Schmidt
3:30 pm to 3:45 pm
This new and innovative student-driven project-based course is designed for the learner in mind. Rather than a discussion course or a “follow me and do as I do” course, this puts the student in the driver's seat and allows them to determine what they would like to learn. Most classes have teacher-driven learning, the Innovation Lab at The Oakwood School lets the students guide their learning. With the world evolving, this class allows students to gain the skills needed to tackle their future. The lab facilitator gives the students a general theme and the student chooses what they would like to do. Students get to research ideas and then implement findings while tracking progress with an E-Portfolio. Students collaborate with a partner and have creative artistic freedom to allow self-expression and to show individuality. This new wave of learning, where the students lead, is starting to expand and the students will discuss the pros and cons of this type of learning environment.
